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for,. incoming fire on planet earth. extraordinary images of the meteor that hit russia and left hundreds injured. an end to the holiday from hell. the crew ships docks and passengers relive the nightmare cruise. >> the worst was the toilet conditions, having to go in the gs. >> and in the ba business news. >> it is meant to be about getting countries to grow again. cutting the value of their currency to make exports cheaper. many say it is cheating. say japan is the worst offender. they will be meeting in moscow this weekend to thrash it out. london, 7:00y in

in the morning in washington, 2:00 p.m. in pretoria, south africa. olympic and paralympic at least oscar pistorius, the double amputee, has appeared in court and been charged with murder. he broke down in tears as prosecutors announced they would pursue a charge of premeditated murder. his lawyers described him as being in an extremely traumatized state of mind. we have this report from our correspondent richard galpin. >> hiding his face from the cameras, oscar pistorius day is to be a police van taken to court. the global sporting legend facing a day of reckoning after his girlfriend or shot dead. inside, the courtroom was packed with people waiting to see what would happen when he appeared

before a magistrate. it was a dramatic moment. he looked extremely tense. he was formally charged with murder and broke down in tears. he said nothing. the shooting took place at his home in this closely guarded housing estate in the early hours of thursday want, valentine's day. the woman he is accused of murdering was his girlfriend, a model of reeva steenkamp. they had been together since last november. they were the ultimate celebrity couple in south africa. >> she was a really vibrant personality and had a really wicked sense of humor. the fact that she was so beautiful was there, but she was a really great person. >> oscar had a tragic start to life. he was born bornfibula bones in

his lower legs -- born without fibula bones in his lower legs and there were amputated. he received high performance limbs and became a legendary paralympic athletes, winning gold in athens. this summer in london he competed against able-bodied athletes in the olympics. some friends say this global success changed him. >> he did change. from the guy that he was 12 years ago to a good guy that he is now, he became a very different person. >> prosecutors are alleging that the superstar athlete committed premeditated murder, 40 would face life in prison if found guilty. -- for which he would face life in prison. >> we join our correspondent at the courthouse in pretoria, peter biles.

what is next for oscar pistorius in the legal process? >> he has been remanded in custody until next tuesday. [inaudible] he will come back to the pretoria magistrate's court on tuesday and then the lawyers will present their arguments on his behalf. [inaudible] >> we do have terrible problems with the sound, but we will see if it will work. people around the world have been shocked by this story. give me a sense of the impact it's having in south africa. corre>> [inaudible] >> peter, i am terribly sorry. we have problems with the sound

and the visual. if we can go back to him, we will do so later in the program. we will bring you the rest of the day's news for now. a spectacular, potentially lethal meteor streaks across the sky above russia and crashes in a central city of chelyabinsk. it blew out windows and rocked buildings. many people grabbed their phones and recorded the footage of a massive burst of light. now this report from moscow from daniel sanford. >> the first thing people notice was a bright fireball flying through the clear morning sky. dozens of video cameras captured the same event. what seems to have been a meteorite burnt in the

>> i saw an object moving through the sky and then there was a crash. we first thought it was fireworks. and we saw a trace as if from a rocket, followed by an explosion a couple minutes later. the shock waves from the blast knocked over walls and blew out the windows. this factory suffered extensive damage. people who had rushed to look out the windows to see what was flying over head were injured by windows matching. hundreds were treated for cuts to their heads and hands. the mobile phone network stopped working because of the number of people trying to call friends and relatives. at this stage, it appears the eye witnesses all saw the same meteorite, but that has not been confirmed. it's not yet clear if there are any remains left in the mountains of the extraordinary

object that fell to earth on friday morning. daniel sanford, bbc news, moscow. >> extraordinary images. later today, an asteroid the size of an olympic swimming pool will pass by the earth and the moon. it's coming close to the moon and many satellites. stay with us. we will find out if this is something we all should be worried about. stay with us. jamie is here on planet earth with all the business news. the g-20 ministers are meeting on this weekend to talk about the currency wars. >> it is very important. it's all about devaluing. the reason why people get upset about it countries devouring their currency is everybody cannot do it. you cannot all duo it.

>> has the concern and prompted by japan? quests, yes, japan is devalued by 20%. the g-20 group of nations is meeting in moscow. there's no doubt this will be on top of the agenda. accusations have been flying that certain developed economies have been trying to devalue their currencies inboost their e their struggling economies a boost. japan has been cast as the chief >> the winner in this scenario would be the country that gets the weakest exchange rate because they would have a competitive advantage and able

to export more, so that would create more jobs. bringies want to themselves advantage. >> there's been more bad news for british retailers. sales in january down again. many of them hoping for a pick up in the january sales. the picture looks bleak. four high street the banks have gone into administration already this year. store closures mean up to and $10,000 in the u.k. are at risk. i spoke to an analyst and he said its important to take the january weather and the internet presence into account. >> a couple things are happening in terms of retail. you have to say the macroeconomics picture, was difficult last year, and is getting better gradually. retailers are struggling with a change in shopping patterns. more and more people are using the internet to shop online. as a result, those companies that have not been able to cope with that argolis struggling. whereas some companies such as

zara are capitalizing and doing very well on the web. it is a polarized view in terms of retail. big winners and big losers. thank you very much. the government of mali says it will hold a nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections in the northern town there's a bigger military presence after two suicide bomb attacks last week and heavy fighting involving militias. government troops continued to search houses or explosives or weapons left behind by islamist militants who have disappeared into surrounding areas. our west africa correspondent has more now. >> government troops are standing guard trying to block all access. the threat is largely invisible and islamist militants could

strike again at any time. troops from neighboring niger have come to help. the military presence has been increased seriously. assets thatd some seven unexploded that the jihadist groups left behind. people in the towns are telling us where to find a lot of them. we have tried to remove them and destroy them. >> for now the french are leading the way. they had an intervention last month and did not allow time for african soldiers to go through training as originally planned. the french army units conduct joint patrols instead, passing on the techniques on the job. booby traps.ng for contrac

the french are hoping they can soon leave the african forces to do the job on their own. the people are locating houses where the extremists have set up bases. they are keen to help, hoping to feel safe again. this town will not heal soon, left by 10 months of islamist will. this man takes me back to the islamist prison where he was held. there were 25 of them in the cell with no food or water. he was accused of having stolen a mattress. and then one day his islamist calstrs pulled him out of his cell without warning. he said they tracked him and cut

off his hand with a knife. he fainted and was in the hospital when he awoke. some of the most violent extremists. they are determined to spread terror among the population. the joy brought by the so-called liberation three weeks ago did not last long. it was quickly overtaken by the fear that this war is far from over. bbc news, mali. >> they with us on bbc world news. a little known european union committee with a huge task. drawing up plans for the mass testing of new products to find out how much mislabeled horse meat has entered the food chain. candle lit vigils, flash mobs, and dancing in the streets. countries all around the world have seen eye-catching protests marking the global campaign to stop violence against women.

one billion rising is what it is known as. it gathered pace following the in the gang rape protests. now this report. >> from brussels to new york to rome, a synchronized message to show solidarity. >> at least one in three women will suffer from some of form of violence, physical or mental, in their lives. that's one-third of women in the world. >> there were even doing it in the european parliament. this one was in london. among the protesters, an actress and comedian. >> i come from domestic violence, so i understand you get over it, but you do have the

remembrancer. >> this up the protest in describes an ugly truth. south africa has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world, along with india, still reeling from the gang rape and murder of a young woman. protestors in new delhi and dance in solidarity and commitment to change. more solemn protests took place in nepal, sri lanka, and afghanistan. hundreds turned out in the philippines to show their support. in mexico city there was this. and this, istanbul. 200 hundred countries took part. the world has spoken. >> it your watching gmt. the top stories.

prosecutors in south africa have accused paralympic champion oscar pistorius of the premeditated killing of his girlfriend. the breakdown in court as he heard the murder charges against him. a spectacular image appeared this meteor left hundreds injured after it fell from the skies in russia. it has been called the crew ships from. 3000 passengers on board the carnival triumph have disembarked after the ship was pulled into port in mobile, alabama by tugboats. reliever passengers cheered as they reached the shore. the ship had been parlous five days, disabled by engine room fire that led to a sanitation breakdown, overflowing toilets, food shortages, and file smells. holidaymakers and describe the nightmare voyage. >> the worst conditions for the toilets, having to go in the

shower at and in red bags. it got really still a, really smelly. >> it was disgusting. we tried not to eat. she never went down there for days because she did not want to eat so she would not have to use the bathroom in a biohazard bag. >> a serious catastrophe. they are very lucky that we did not end up burning in the ship, because no alarms went off. they told them to go back to bed while the fire was burning. >> many unhappy passengers. understandably so. live do our abc correspondent in mobile, alabama. marcy, do you think that it went beyond discomfort to a real danger for the people on board? >> we have heard some reports early on of food poisoning, but besides that, not a number of

serious injuries. one person had to be taken from the ship while it was still in the gulf of mexico, taken by helicopter. we saw one person taken by ambulance soon after the ship docked. other than that, no reports of serious injury or illness. but i wonder if some of the passengers made threats of legal action as they got off the ship finally. >> i believe some would be considering it. that was not the first thing on their mind as they came off the ship. some of them krystal brown there were so happy to be home. absolute frustration with carnival cruise line. they are offering the passengers reimbursement, a free cruise, and $500. many of the passengers say that is simply not enough, considering all they went throughout. >> have the owners got any explanation as to not just by the fire broke out and why the engines were disabled about why

it became such a total crisis on board? >> they have not. we are still waiting for that explanation. the one thing the passengers have wanted to point out is how wonderful the crewmembers were about all this. that the crew members kept smiles on their faces and did all they could to make a miserable situation somewhat aberrant. >> i know that cruising is very popular in north america. any indication that this might make people who are it are i to think twice about their forthcoming holidays? >> they may. that may be the case for the 3000 passengers on this ship. although they're getting a free cruise, many of them say they don't plan on cruising again anytime soon. >> that is understandable in the circumstances. thank you for joining us on gmt for mobile.

a forest fire in chile has destroyed 70 homes and forced more than 500 families out of their homes. a red alert was issued after the blaze broke out in the hills, 120 kilometers north east of the capital santiago. strong winds and high temperatures are feeding the flames at the peak of the local summer holiday season. australia's customs service is tightening security following the arrest of four officers suspected of drug smuggling at sydney airport. officers will face stricter background checks and mandatory testing for drugs and alcohol use. there were among 17 people arrested over an alleged plan to smuggle around 40 kilograms of a drug from vietnam. a person who was a pilgrim has been killed at a religious festival in india. millions of people have been attending the festival which began last month. a stampede over the weekend

federal restoration killed 37 pilgrims and injured many more. one of kenya's most successful runners named moses says doping is widespread amongst the countries at the leaks. he accused authorities of taking a blind eye. the secretary general of athletics in kenya says he should provide evidence for these allegations. it is a little-known committee was actions could affect consumer confidence in the food that is eaten across europe. experts from the european union standing committee on the food chain are drawing up plans for tests that will check if food labels of beef actually contain horse dna. they suspended the license of one company. three people were arrested in the uk for suspected fraud in

meat sales. the scandal has raised questions about the food industry supply chain. our environmental correspondent matt. it is a massive enterprise. >> absolutely. to give you some scale, the french government yesterday said that the company at the heart of this, they distributed 500 tons of horse labeled as beef and up to 4.5 million individual meals. we have testing going on throughout the u.k. it's a great time to be an analyst at a lab. >> what kind of tests are necessary to be sure if the meat is before horse? >> they will do dna testing. it's very effective and very accurate. >> how quick our results > >> relatively quickly, but it is

expensive. it can only test for one thing at a particular time. if you want to test for horse, there's one test for that and a different test if you want to test for pork. someone will have to pay the price for this. >> we have had the company apologizing, admitting that ho -- horse got into its supply chain. is there indication whether this is gross negligence or something criminal going on? >> bafta? . we have had hints from some people in arlen that they thought it was a criminal conspiracy. people i have spoken to say it is a question of supply and demand. we have lots of unwanted horses in europe and the price is very low and beef is quite high and you can make a pretty penny from this. whether it's an organized group, we don't know.

but the testing may give fingerprints' as to what is behind this. >> there's been some talk in the british press that there is evidence that resources might have even been used and have entered the food chain. >> that is a concern. we don't know if that is the case. a number of horse passports have been explicitly authorized over the last number of years in the u.k. companies are able to issue these passports, so it is open to fraud. periodically possible. >> we will keep watching this story. thanks for joining us. coming up in the next half-hour on the program, how states army from dangers of things falling from the sky and -- how safe are we? we've seen this meteor in russia. later in the day, an asteroid will be passing by planet earth. so stay with us on gmt.

we will find out if here on earth we should be worried about asteroids, meteor is, comets and anything else that might come back and trt us. so stay with us on bbc world news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. fidelity investments. and sony pictures classics, now presenting "amour." >> your personal economy is made up of the things that matter most, including your career. as those things change, fidelity can help you readjust

your retirement plan, rethink how you are invested, and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices that can fit your personal economy. fidelity investments, turn here. ♪ >> "amour" rated pg-13, playing in theaters. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet in los angeles.